I feel this is one of the funniest shows currently on TV. Sure, it offers an eccentric cast of characters combined with wacky situations, like most comedies out there, but the dialogue is natural, quick and biting, and the writing is original bordering on bizarre. Each episode has an outline, but beyond that everything is improvised. For me, it works - I don't feel the lines are scripted for a laugh track to tell people when they should be amused, nor I am guessing the actors' lines. I'm just amused, and wondering who would create a rock opera based on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Mr. Samsa gets his guitar tribute here.

Home Movies is the creation of Brendon Small, who not coincidentally does the voice for Brendon Small. He got the job by impressing Loren Bouchard, producer of Dr. Katz, with his stand up comedy skills. Something clicked, and Soup2Nuts, the company behind Dr. Katz and other Squigglevision fare, decided to make Home Movies. Home Movies premiered on the prestigous UPN network in April of 1999, and promptly ended after five episodes. Cartoon Network picked them up in September of 2001, and so far seems likely to have them around for a while. While Home Movies' first season was drawn in Squigglevision, the second season has been drawn in Flash. It looks slightly different, and allows a wider range of animated effects.

Mr. Lynch: The question was, on this test here, who was the first President of the United States. You wrote, "Yes".
Brendon: Yeah well that question wasn't very specific.
Mr. Lynch: Well how bout this. The question was, who wrote Hamlet. You wrote, The Pope's cousin, Count Popula, a magical monster with pencils for arms.
Brendon: I'll be honest Mr. Lynch - I made that one up.

Characters:Brendon Small: Ditto. The small movie-obsessed protagonist, who seems to be always struggling with life and his latest film.Jason Panopolis: H. Jon Benjamin. Brendon's classmate and friend. He's rather nasal and somewhat spacy, but a dedicated actor for an 8 year old.Melissa : Melissa Bardin Galsky. Brendon's classmate and friend. She's smart and hard working, but more nervous than the other two.Paula Small: Paula Poundstone for episodes 101-105, Janine Di Tullio for episodes 106 and on. Brendon's recently divorced mother. A writer, a teacher and a parent, and not very good at any of them.Coach McGuirk: H. Jon Benjamin. Brendon and friends' absolutely horrible soccer coach. Best used as an example of how not to live one's life.Mr. Lynch : Ron Lynch. Brendon and co's teacher. Experienced and friendly, but not incredibly assertive or bright, and sometimes slightly sadistic.Erik : Jonathan Katz. Melissa's realtor father. Kind and somewhat bland.Duane : Brendon Small. Rock guitarist and creator of all soundtracks for Brendon's movies.

The official Home Movies website is at <http://adultswim.com/shows/homemovies/>, while the Soup2Nuts site is <http://www.soup2nuts.tv/html/shows/tv_home_movies.html> and the old UPN publicity site is available at <http://tv.zap2it.com/spotlight/homemovies/>. The only good fan website I've seen so far is at <http://www.tvtome.com/HomeMovies/>